Event Details

Event Details

Time

Location

Morgridge College of Education Katherine A. Ruffatto Hall University of Denver

1999 East Evans Ave, Denver Colorado 80208

Organizer

Office of Admissions - 303-871-2509 - mce@du.edu

1999 East Evans Ave, Denver Colorado 80208

28apr4:30 pm- 6:30 pmThe Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation

Event Details

The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Raising of Our Nation
Join the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy, Qualistar Colorado and Rocky Mountain PBS for a no cost [...]

Event Details

The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Raising of Our Nation

Join the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy, Qualistar Colorado and Rocky Mountain PBS for a no cost screening of The Raising of America. Following the 60-minute episode, a panel of early childhood education leaders will talk about ho communities can work to provide a healthier, safer, better educated, more prosperous and equitable future to give all children the opportunity got a strong start.

Hosted by the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy at the University of Denver, Qualistart and Rocky Mountain PBS

About this never-before-seen episode:

The U.S. is a can-do nation. So why is child well-being in the U.S. so much worse than in other rich countries? How does what Paul Kershaw calls “the growing squeeze” on so many young families and caregivers– the squeeze for time, for money and for resources — “drip down” on their infants and young children, literally altering the wiring of their developing brains with potential long-term consequences for learning, earning, and mental and physical health? How might we do better?

This hour-long episode interweaves the latest discoveries from neuroscience with the stories of families and communities struggling to provide the nurturing environments all babies and young children need to survive — while too often hindered by social conditions that put their children on low developmental trajectories.

Time

(Tuesday) 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Location

Morgridge College of Education Katherine A. Ruffatto Hall University of Denver

Registration

Organizer

Since 2005, Morgridge College of Education has received more than $23 million in grants for projects ranging from community-based research to policy analysis and development. Morgridge is committed to contributing high quality research in support of the University of Denver mission to advance scholarly inquiry, cultivate critical and creative thought and generate knowledge.

Morgridge’s research initiatives and grants include sponsored research, University-funded initiatives and community initiatives.

Recently Awarded Sponsored Research Projects

Access to Mathematics for All

Awarded by National Science Foundation, The Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, Capacity Building Project, $349,926 (2014-2016)

This project supports work underway at the University of Denver (DU) to develop a program in mathematics education designed specifically to improve access and opportunities for underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities and low-income students. The primary goal of AMA is to develop capacity at DU to significantly increase the number of diverse and low-income students graduating from DU with a 9-12 teaching license in secondary mathematics. To accomplish this goal, the work of AMA will be devoted to developing an infrastructure that provides significant academic and social support for these future students to be successful at DU. After developing the capacity that is needed at DU to ensure the success of low-income, diverse students in secondary mathematics, we plan to pursue scholarship funding through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program for future students.

Broadening Participation in Engineering among Women and Latino/as: A Longitudinal, Multi-Site Study.

Awarded by National Science Foundation, HER Core Research, $677,390 ($69,992 at DU) (2014-2019)

Researcher: Patton Garriott (PI) in partnership with the University of North Dakota and the University of Missouri.

White women and Latino/a men and women are sorely underrepresented in engineering, and more research is needed to understand psychological factors that influence academic and career intentions, satisfaction, and retention in the domain of engineering. Both gender and racial/ethnic disparities have been reported across the engineering pipeline (intentions, enrollment, degree attainment, employment), with women and Latino/as underrepresented at each stage. The proposed study extends earlier work by sampling White male, White female, Latino, and Latina engineering students across 10 different institutions, including both Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Findings from this study have direct implications for educational and career interventions aimed at retaining White women and Latino/as in engineering by building on our recent findings on the role of social cognitions in engineering persistence intentions and satisfaction among Latino/as and White women. The findings also may lead to theoretical refinements and to new theory development in explaining women’s and Latino/as’ satisfaction, engagement, and persistence in engineering majors and careers. In addition, to better understand why women and Latino/as persist in and leave engineering, this research will identify salient individual and institutional factors related to persistence and drop out decisions.

Cognitive Test Battery for Intellectual Disabilities.

Awarded byNational Institutes of Health, Outcome Measures for Use in Treatment Trials for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (R01), $2,499,996 ($588,672 at DU) (2014-2019)

Researchers: Karen Riley (PI-DU) and her MCEA research team in partnership with David Hessl (PI), The MIND Institute at the University of California – Davis, and Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, Rush University Medical Center.

The overarching goal of this project is to develop and validate an assessment battery to measure cognitive outcomes in clinical trials of individuals with intellectual disabilities. The project will critically leverage efforts by the NIH Neuroscience Blueprint Toolbox consortium which recently validated a computer administered cognitive battery (NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery – NIH-TCB, www.nihtoolbox.org) normed in the general population for the ages of 3 to 89 years. Although the battery has great potential for ID, psychometric studies on this population are required. The cognitive battery will be piloted, refined and adapted if needed, and then formally validated utilizing groups of individuals with fragile X syndrome with ID (FXS-ID), Down syndrome with ID (DS-ID), and idiopathic ID (I-ID). The proposed research will benefit a wide range of studies aiming to assess or improve specific domains of cognition and general intellectual functioning in persons with ID. More generally, it will critically extend the utility of the NIH-TCB to populations of individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Progressions of Teacher Proficiency Project

Awarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The goal of this research project is to explore, refine, and validate the findings of an empirically-based “ model to support the alignment of professional development to effective teaching practices. Additionally, integral components to making these Progressions of Teacher Proficiency available and useful for educators and researchers, is the availability of a reliable ontological framework supporting the pathways. There is an overabundance of professional development options and learning objects available to educators. However, there is currently no system that facilitates appropriate individualize application for educators nor is there an effective system for measuring and incentivizing the utilization of these resources. We propose that these three components would be a value-add to different research, technology, and education partners.

The Mathematics Education of African Americans, 1866 – 1954.

A charge I have as an African American mathematics education scholar is to conduct research that addresses mathematics education for African Americans or Blacks through the theme of liberation. This charge acknowledges the continuing struggle against oppression that must be pursued in U.S. society on behalf of Blacks. Mathematics education is also a site where “liberatory resistance” against oppressive social myths and practices can be enacted. A broad goal of this project is to generate new knowledge aimed at deconstructing and challenging assumptions that constrain existing understandings of Blacks’ mathematical experiences, development, and outcomes. Examining what Black students can do specifically in the field of mathematics over a time period of legal racial discrimination will build upon previous scholars’ research. This project uses Critical Race Theory (CRT) to frame, analyze, and interpret meaning because Blacks’ access to education has “never been a de facto legal or social right; the Constitution and the courts have been, and continue to be, the gate-keeper. This study is a historical narrative of the experiences of oppressed peoples, and challenges dominant conceptualizations of African American mathematics experience and knowledge.

Developing Teaching Expertise in K-5 Mathematics.

Drs. Julie Sarama and Douglas H. Clements from the Morgridge College of Education at DU have been funded for the Developing Teaching Expertise in K-5 Mathematics project by the National Science Foundation as part of the Investigating Simulations of Teaching Practice: Assessing Readiness to Teach Elementary Mathematics initiative(Dev-TE@M) based in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. The project will create an online professional development module focused on geometric measurement and assessment. Dev-TE@M is designing a distinctive new form of professional development materials that integrate opportunities for teachers to develop usable knowledge of mathematics and student thinking, skill with “high-leverage” teaching practices, and approaches to learn in and from one’s own teaching. The materials provide teachers with rich access to leading researchers and nationally renowned mathematics teacher educators through carefully designed collections of videos, activities, and teaching artifacts. The work of Drs. Clements and Sarama will become part of a collection of modules being used across the country for teacher professional development that addresses critical content for elementary mathematics teaching such as knowledge and skills for helping students learn topics such as fractions and geometric measurement or to engage in mathematical practices. Dr. Sarama is the Kennedy Endowed Chair in Innovative Learning Technologies and Professor. Dr. Clements is the Kennedy Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning and Professor in the MCE.

Graduate Level Specialty in Addiction Counselor Training with Emphasis on Integration of Native American Specific Content

The Counseling Psychology (CP) Program will address two critical and overlapping deficits in the provision of addiction counseling services in Colorado. Specifically, efforts will focus on the underserved needs of Native Americans regarding disturbingly high levels of addiction; and, the need for a more highly qualified addiction counseling workforce in Colorado. Grant funding will allow the CP Program to more adequately prepare the graduates for CAC II certification by developing field placement relationships with treatment centers in Colorado. These placements must be established to provide CAC approved fieldwork accompanied by CAC required supervision. Both the existing coursework in the CP program and 2,000 hours of CAC approved supervised counseling are prerequisites for admission to the required national examination. In summary, the first year funding will provide for the infusion of Native American content into the existing seven approved courses. In addition, courses will be revised to accommodate the new addiction paradigm advanced by the DSM-5. Funds will also be used to establish and maintain CAC approved and supervised field placements.

Healthy Eaters, Lifelong Movers 2

Awarded by the Colorado Health Foundation to the Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center, Colorado School of Public Health in partnership with the University of Denver

The goal of HELM is to increase student access to healthy foods, quality physical education, and physical activity opportunities in underserved, rural, low-income Colorado schools. We do this by partnering with K-12 schools to implement evidence-based, school level environment and policy changes using two proven approaches: AIM (Assess, Investigate, Make it Happen) and the Physical Education Academy. In HELM2, we propose to bring AIM to middle schools in the San Luis Valley and remaining elementary schools in southeastern Colorado who did not participate in HELM1. We plan to partner with local public health departments in southeastern Colorado to deliver AIM. Finally, we propose to bring a more cost-effective version of the PE Academy to southeastern Colorado and to continue sustainability efforts in the San Luis Valley.

Early Childhood Care and Education Study for the State of North Dakota

A Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy (MIELL) team will conduct a study on the development, delivery and administration of Comprehensive Early Childhood Care and Early Childhood Education in the State of North Dakota according to legislation passed during the past session. The completion of this study will be guided by a State Advisory Committee (AC). The responsibilities of MIELL include ongoing consultation with a State Advisory Committee to provide insight on early childhood needs in relation to committee members in their fields; obtain data required in conjunction with this study; and, review, analyze and synthesize data, documents, and reports from materials obtained as a result of the study.

Wallace Professional Learning Community

Awarded by Education Development Center, Inc. in partnership with the Wallace Foundation

The Ritchie Program for School Leaders graduates are a cohesive community within Denver Public Schools. Graduates come back to classes, participate in candidate screening and demonstrations of learning events and continue to network within and across cohorts. We would like to leverage this strength of the community to host a convening to launch the development of multiple action research groups that will have two goals: 1) to support and strengthen the leadership of graduates and the performance of their schools, and 2) to learn about the challenges and issues graduates face so we can target development in these areas. The goal of the convening is that approximately 10 action research groups composed of approximately 6 graduates will be created and participants will agree to meet monthly (Sept-Nov) to work on their problem of practice. Their work will be recorded by a graduate student. The findings will be presented at a convening in December and integrated into program revisions.

Z Place & Zoom @ Jamaica Partnership

Z Place/Zoom @ Jamaica is an exciting project composed of a wide array of organizations and expertise that has the potential to make a significant shift in educational research, policy, and practice within the state as well as across the country. This comprehensive and collaborative venture presents an ambitious and attainable attempt to provide empirically based services to a targeted community in a transformative way, with an eye toward documentation and replication. The following points summarize the major goals for the Z Place and Zoom @ Jamaica Project: support effective implementation of interventions of Z Place-Clayton and Zoom @ Jamaica; produce formative and summative evidence to justify scaling; create a potential (long term) case for pay for success/social impact bond applications; and, influence school districts (primarily Aurora Public Schools (APS)) in order to demonstrate value and to find/shift resources to engage in early childhood programming serving children ages birth to 5 years.

Math/Science Partnership (CDE)

Awarded to Eagle County Schools in partnership with the University of Denver and RMC Research by the Colorado Department of Education

Eagle County Schools (ECS) aspires to create a multi-district partnership that will develop Teacher Leaders in 15 schools, covering 8 districts, located in vastly different geographical regions of the state. Teacher Leaders will receive intense professional learning equipping them to understand deeply the content and practices in the new standards, be expert at analyzing student data, and in turn becoming learning facilitators for the mathematics teachers in their schools. The major goals of this project are to develop Teacher Leaders; increase the content knowledge and pedagogical skills of Classroom Teachers; increase student achievement; develop and utilize collaborative partnerships with institutions of higher education and other school districts; and, increase principal instructional leadership.

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel Group Study to Evaluate the Effects of AFQ056 Combined With a Literacy Training Intervention on the Reading Abilities of Male Patients with Fragile X Syndrome

Awarded to CogState, Inc. and the University of Denver by Novartis Pharmaceuticals

With a research grant from Novartis, Dr. Karen Riley, Dean and Associate Professor, developed a learn-to-read application specifically for research use with patients with Fragile X Syndrome. The iPad application, developed in conjunction with Dr. Judith Jaeger, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Vice President of Clinical Trials at Cogstate, is designed to help patients with vocabulary while measuring cognition improvement during clinical trials of a drug treatment for the underlying disorder. Fragile X Syndrome, caused by a defect in the gene FMR-1 (Fragile X Mental Retardation – 1), affects 1 in 4000 males and 1 in 6000 females.

Ongoing Sponsored Research Projects

Project Title

Funded By

PI

CREMAT: Using Rule Space and Poset-based Adaptive Testing Methodologies to Identify Ability Patterns in Early Mathematics and Create a Comprehensive Mathematics Ability Test

Recently Awarded Initiatives

International Perspectives on Bilingual Education.

The Consortium to Advance School Psychology in Vietnam has invited me to be the keynote speaker at their 2014 Annual Conference in School Psychology that will be held at the Vietnam National University this August in Hanoi. This international conference brings together school psychologists, researchers, educators, counselors, educational administrators, and social workers who work in a wide variety of settings throughout the world. The theme of the 2014 conference is Developing Training Program and Managing Quality Assurance for Training and Services in School Psychology in Vietnam. Participation in this conference will allow me to extend my scholarly interests by collaboratively networking with other researchers, school psychologists, and practitioners who are also seeking solutions to a complex educational problem: How can we construct more effective early childhood practices to meet the needs of children from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds in ways that promote equity and increased social mobility?

A Project on Comparative Critical Issues in Higher Education.

This project is aimed at achieving multiple goals. The primary goal of this project is aligned with the “university’s goal of integrating international and intercultural perspectives and content into teaching, learning, research, and service” and is focused on developing an internationalization and globalization in higher education course for the Higher Education Program. The secondary goal is also aligned with the university’s interest in further integrating international and intercultural perspectives into the fabric of the learning community, and it is aimed at the development of partnerships and plans to pursue research projects with higher education scholars abroad.

Designing a Teacher Evaluation System to Improve Teacher Effectiveness for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners

Awarded by University of Denver, Professional Research Opportunities for Faculty, $29,988 (2014-2016)

The growing focus on evaluation and accountability at a national level has never been more vital, given that equitable and effective teachers are crucial as the nation’s schools face increased segregation, growing dropout rates, persistent achievement gaps, and high teacher attrition. In response to this national imperative, MCE faculty will conduct a research study to field test the reliability of a pre-service teacher evaluation framework known as the “Framework for Equitable and Effective Teaching” (FEET). This study poses the question: Is the FEET a consistent and reliable tool in evaluating pre-service teacher performance? The MCE faculty researchers employ a sequential mixed methods approach to establish the empirical foundations of the FEET through four phases of research. The findings of this research study will allow the MCE researchers to (a) improve the training of pre-service teachers; (b) provide a pre-service teacher evaluation tool that can reach regional and national prominence due to a dearth of evaluation tools at the pre-service level; and, (c) position the MCE faculty to pursue additional funding to support the research.

Developing a College-Going Culture in Latina/O Families: Exploring the Influence of Funds of Knowledge on Family Outreach Programs

Awarded by University of Denver, Professional Research Opportunities for Faculty, $18,720 (2014-2016)

This qualitative research project focuses on the influence of a joint university and K-12 college outreach program that supports Latina/o students and their families as they progress through secondary school and into higher education. Project research will explore how program administrators have incorporated a “funds of knowledge” framework, an asset-based pedagogical framework building off families’ resources and knowledge into the program and how the college-going culture of Latina/o families has been influenced. Data will be collected from program administrators and from families who participated in the program. Supplemental data will be collected in the form of program documents and/or artifacts. The following research questions guide the design of this study: (1) How has the “funds of knowledge” programmatic framework been incorporated into a college outreach program? (2) How has the long-term influence of the household setting (i.e., family funds of knowledge and college ideologies) been impacted by the outreach program?

Cultivating Culturally Relevant and Responsive Curriculum and Pedagogy in College.

This pilot project focuses on the ways in which college faculty make their curriculum and pedagogy culturally relevant and responsive. Through focus groups with 30 faculty members, the project will examine how faculty integrate cultural relevance and responsiveness into their work; ways in which faculty are restricted in further incorporating cultural relevance and responsiveness into their work; the barriers that faculty face in infusing cultural relevance and responsiveness into their curricula and pedagogy; what supports institutions can provide to facilitate integration of cultural relevance and responsiveness into their work; and, how these dynamics vary across disciplines.

Refugee Community Collaboration

University of Denver, Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning, Public Good Grant (2014-2015)

Reearchers: Maria Riva and Vicki Tomlin

Through this project, the researchers seek to build collaborative refugee community networks with the African Community Center (ACC) Refugee Resettlement agency in order to document the impact of culturally competent psycho-educational group work with Congolese women. This project is integrated into a larger ACC effort to build support connections for refugees as they establish their lives in a new culture. Using small groups, four University of Denver Counseling Psychology graduate students and a faculty member in MCE will work collaboratively with ACC and the Congolese refugee community to incorporate culturally sensitive methods into the psycho-educational groups, such as a cultural ceremony, along with the integration of more traditional group processes that aim to build rapport while fostering opportunities for enhancing goal-setting and decision-making skills. Participatory evaluation methods will be used and groups monitored closely since cultural misunderstandings can occur when working with marginalized and disenfranchised groups.

Assessment of Quality of Life in Neutral Implantation Surgery for the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease.

The purpose of this particular application is to establish a research collaborative with colleagues at Lund University which will allow us to collect quality of life data on TRANSEURO participants as they have not included this component of data collection into their present protocol. There are two major goals for this research project: 1) establish a connection with neurologists involved in the TRANSEURO project that was recently begun in Sweden in order to invite them to include quality of life assessments that were used in a similar project in the United States; and, 2) invite the collaboration of Swedish researchers who have been doing neural transplant surgery for 20 years to collect retrospective data from persons who have had the surgery similar to the data we have recently collected. Because the Swedish group based in Lund and the research group of which I have been a part, based at the University of Colorado and Columbia University, are two of only three groups in the world with a history of neural transplantation for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease, it would be helpful if we collected similar data and could thus pool and compare our results.

Pura Vida: Cloud Forest, Curriculum and Cross-Cultural Study.

The project goal is to impact education of multiple ages, kindergarten through graduate level, raising awareness and ultimately taking action through sustainability practices and continuing the on-going processes of education to action. Project PURA VIDA is action through education, whether a student is seven, seventeen, or sixty-seven to positively impact the future of our world. A three-credit elective course in cross-cultural curriculum development will be developed during the Winter and Spring Quarters 2014 for online delivery in the Fall Quarter 2014. This course will have a direct experience component that will be offered in the Winter Interterm 2014. The English language version of the curriculum unit will be fully developed and ready for distribution by Fall Quarter 2015, followed by the Spanish language version in Summer Quarter 2016.

The Sistah Network: Black Women Graduate Students Supporting and Retaining Each Other

The Sistah Network at the University of Denver is a mentoring program and affinity group with a goal to enhance the educational, professional, and social experiences of Black graduate females. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential benefits of participation in a program structured to support Black graduate females in their scholarly endeavors. In addition, the study aims to understand why particular benefits are more effective than others. The outcomes of this research are to extend the knowledge on the experiences of Black women in graduate programs who participate in mentoring programs; inform and improve educational practices with this population; gain insight into the transferability of the program structure, the values of such a program, and the overall experiences of individuals who participate in the program; and, develop a mentoring model.

Completed Projects

Project Title

Funded By

PI

Co-PI(s)

Award

Grant Period

Denver Public Library: Opportunities for Change

Colorado Community Based Research Network

Hall-Ellis

$2,000

2005

Project Homeless Connect 4 Event Evaluation

DU Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning

Hall-Ellis

Zhang

$4,595

2007

Project Homeless Connect 5 Event Evaluation

DU Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning

Hall-Ellis

Zhang

$1,000

2007

Project Homeless Connect 6 Event Evaluation

DU Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning

Hall-Ellis

Zhang

$9,785

2008

Teaching for Success in the Library Environment: LIS 4030 in Library 2.0

DU Center for Teaching and Learning

Grealy

Hall-Ellis

$9,350

2009-2010

Second Life Learning Community

DU Center for Teaching and Learning

McCubbrey

Hall-Ellis, LaMendola, Novak

$13,000

2010-2012

MCE Connect: A 21st Century Framework for Faculty Development

DU Center for Teaching and Learning

Uhrmacher

Assefa, Agans, Michalec, Salazar

$22,355

2010-2013

Creating Online LIS Courses

DU Center for Teaching and Learning

Stansbury

$15,000

2011-2013

User-centered Evaluation of Music Search Engines

DU Faculty Research Fund (FRF)

Hu

$2,931

2011-2012

Faculty Service Learning Pod

DU Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning

Salazar

Cutforth, Tuitt, Hazel, G. Miller

$8,000

2010-2011

Reintroducing the Value of Law Librarians to Academic and Public Librarians in Colorado through the Identification and Use of Emerging Technologies

DU Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning

Hall-Ellis

Bowers, Hudson

$5,773

2010-2011

Creating Engaging Environments to Teach Pre-Algebra Mathematics to Elementary Students

DU Interdisciplinary Grant

Salazar

Arias, Lopez, Agans

$60,000

2011-2012

Educational Practicum in Vietnam and China to Promote the Inclusion of Young Children with Disabilities

Graduate Level Specialty in Addiction Counselor Training with Emphasis on Integration of Native American Specific Content

The Counseling Psychology Program will address two critical and overlapping deficits in the provision of addiction counseling services in Colorado. Specifically, efforts will focus on (1) the underserved needs of Native Americans regarding disturbingly high levels of addiction; and, (2) the need for a more highly qualified addiction counseling workforce in Colorado. Funded by the Galena Foundation.

Evaluation of the Northeast Denver Babies Ready for College Program

The Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy (MIELL) team will work with Mile High Montessori to evaluate the Northeast Denver Babies Ready for College (BRFC) Program. The BRFC Program has the primary goals of improving children’s long-term educational outcomes through parent and caregiver education and developing civic leadership among parents and caregivers. MIELL’s proven track record in research related to kindergarten readiness, program evaluation, and applied quantitative and qualitative analysis uniquely qualifies us to provide the assistance requested by Mile High Montessori.